Cathy & Jan's Travels: Trips Thru Alaska Inside Passage Plus Olympic Peninusla

Eldred Rock Lighhouse - South of Skagway

After reaching the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington State, we parked our 5th wheel in an Escapees RV Club CO-OP Park and left out of Seattle on a Norwegian cruise ship thru the Alaska Inside Passage. We enjoyed a rather relaxing trip since we did not sign up for any of the (sometimes very tiring) on-shore excursions. Jan had located the coordinates of all possible lighthouses along the way and used a GPS device that listed the speed of the ship, how far away each lighthouse was, and in what direction to look for it. So, on the way, we arranged our meals and activities around making sure that we did not miss one (except for those that we could not see at night).

Our ports of call were Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, & Prince Rupert, BC. We disembarked the ship in each place and strolled thru the towns. In Skagway we visited the Klondike National Historic Site where we got the passport stamp and listened to a talk on the Volunteer Fire Department (quite interesting to us since we had both been volunteers back in Texas). The Ranger there was being transferred to the National Park Service site on Guam (a place that we probably will never get to for a passport stamp). Cathy visited the quilt shops in all ports (except in Prince Rupert which did not have one) looking for and finding Alaska themed fabric. One of the highlights on the trip was seeing the Dawes Glacier in the Endicott Fjord.

After this trip and a few days of rest we rented a car and drove 800 miles around the Olympic peninsula. Some of the highlights were:

Taking photographs of 10 lighthouses. One was on the northwestern tip of the continental US at Cape Flattery and we also climbed the tallest lighthouse in Washington (Grays Harbor in Westport, WA)
Driving up 18 miles and a 5,230 ft gain in elevation in Olympic National Park to Hurricane Ridge to see beautiful mountain tops.
Hiking in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park to see the lush green forest plants.
Driving by the beautiful Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park
Driving along the Pacific coastline
Visiting the communities of Forks and La Push. These are the main locations for the Twilight series novels (werewolves and vampires) that are especially popular with teenage girls today. There are an estimated 3,000 people that come to these small communities every month to see the places mentioned in the novels (such as the high school, hospital, police station, some of the main characters homes, and First Beach). We drove around and took photos of the main places (plus a lighthouse keepers home that was converted to a school in La Push) and sent them to our teenage granddaughter.

We had heard that the way to see the real Alaska is to go by ferry. The ferry goes at a much more relaxed pace, stops at places the cruise ships don’t go to, and sails thru much more of the inside passage in British Columbia. So, after a week’s rest we took our 5th wheel to Bellingham, WA and left it at an RV friend’s house. The next day they drove us to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal where we started our 2 week ferry adventure back to Alaska (without a vehicle). The first leg of the journey took over 2 days aboard the Columbia ferry. We could not get reservations for a stateroom and were planning to sleep in the passenger seats. We could have also taken a tent and pitched it (tied down with duct tape) on the top decks (which many do, but we decided against it). Fortunately, we signed up on the standby list & were paged for the last 2-person stateroom which made sleeping much more comfortable.

With the only scheduled activity onboard being a few short talks by a National Forest Ranger, there was plenty of time to sit and watch the beautiful scenery, scan for signs of whales, read a book, talk with other passengers, and (of course in our case) look for and photo lighthouses. What a different and more relaxing experience than on a cruise ship!

We got off the ferry in the small community of Wrangell. While there, we had time to walk around the town and talk with local folks and get a much better idea of what life is like up in Alaska. After spending a restful night in a B&B there, we boarded the Taku ferry for a four hour ride thru the beautiful Wrangell Narrows to Petersburg. After leaving the ferry we spent the rest of the day walking thru town and, of course, Cathy visited the quilt shop in town. Our B&B for the night was very convenient since it was only about a block away from the ferry terminal & we had a great view of the waterfront and eagles diving for fish,

The next morning, we boarded the Fairweather (a high speed catamaran ferry) and enjoyed the smooth four hour ride to Juneau. After spending a day of rest in Juneau, we flew in a small plane to Gustavus (the Glacier Bay National Park headquarters) for two nights at the Glacier Bay Lodge. The highlight of our stay there was going on a day long boat ride into Glacier Bay National Park (narrated by a Park Ranger) to see three tidal glaciers (those that end in ocean waters) plus wildlife (whales, sea otters, bear, seals, puffins, etc.). We also enjoyed nightly talks by a National Park Ranger at the visitor center located right in the lodge. The next day we flew in another small plane thru a beautiful mountain pass back to Juneau where we spent the rest of the day driving around the Juneau area visiting a quilt shop, seeing the great Mendenhall Glacier, and other sites.

The next day, since there was no scheduled ferry, we flew to Sitka and spent 2 days in this delightful historic community (not yet impacted too much by the cruise industry). Sitka at one time was the capital of Russian America and the influence of the Russian and native cultures are still quite evident (notable Russian buildings are the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Michael in the center of town & the Bishop’s House. The National Park Service operates the very good Sitka National Historic Park which includes a lot of the history plus a totem pole park.

As all things must come to an end, the day arrived for us to board the ferry (The Columbia again) for our 3 day and night trip back to Bellingham. We had managed to reserve a stateroom for the 3 nights and enjoyed the relaxing ride back to Bellingham.

The weather on both of our trips to Alaska in May and June was normal for this area (a tropical rainforest). A good bit of the time it was quite cool, overcast and cloudy with intermittent rain. But we did have a few great days when the sun was out and then the scenery was especially beautiful. The ferries and the cruise ship did not take the same routes and so we were able to add 24 lighthouses to our photo collection (bringing our grand total to 568).

After the ferry trip, we took it easy for a few days visiting with friends in Bellingham and for Jan to have and recover from a hernia operation in Bellingham. Fortunately, one of our college friends was a doctor who had practiced in Bellingham and he recommended the surgeon to us. All went well with the surgery and we were released to continue our travels after 2 weeks.

We are now in Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We plan to tour what is known as 'The Island' for 4 weeks before returning to the states. In a few weeks, after we get back into the US, we will put out another update which will cover some of our recent experiences (including one very close call with our 5th wheel). Until then, enjoy the following photos.